How Is Gender Inequality Different In Your Industry?

Gender inequality exists in every industry. This fact is nothing new. Women are paid less than their male counterparts and funded less as entrepreneurs. Sexism also shows itself in more dangerous ways such as in sexual harassment cases from the tech industry to Hollywood.

“Honestly, I think that the representation of women is almost more backward than when I started in the profession,” said Emmy-award-winning filmmaker Amy Ziering, at The Foundation for Gender Equality Luncheon. “We’ve got a lot of work to do in entertainment.”

Ziering is referring to the fact that women comprised just 7% of directors of the top 250 domestic grossing films in 2016. That figure represents a decline of two percentage points from 2015’s 9%, according to this study. "Wonder Woman," which was directed by Patty Jenkins, proves what we've always known: that women directors can rake in dollars on big budget films, but that won’t change the industry as a whole.

The problem is that the basis of this inequality is bubbling below the surface. It stems from the way that we talk about women and their history.

Nick Ferroni is an activist and teacher.(Photo By Forbes)

“As a teacher, especially a history teacher, I quickly realized that we indirectly teach kids to be racist, to be sexist and to discriminate because we give them the impression that one group did everything and every other group was kind of a side note,” says New Jersey high school teacher Nick Ferroni.

When Ferroni was honored at The Foundation for Gender Equality Luncheon, he passed the mic to the founder of his school’s Feminist Club, Mickeala Bland. Ferroni explained that he believes that hope for gender equality rests in the hands of allies.

“I think that the only people who should know more about women’s history than women and girls - are boys and men. Honestly, I think that education can get rid of every racist belief, even sexism, if we just educate our students that everyone contributed,” says Ferroni.

Around the world, gender inequality is also an issue across industries, explained Roya Mahboob, a serial tech entrepreneur from Afghanistan, who was also honored at the luncheon. That's why after founding an IT services firm, she founded Digital Citizen Fund, an organization to help women gain access to technology in developing countries.

We should be helping to fight inequality on the ground floor, said former Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett. After working in corporate America, Jarrett realized that public service was how she could have the biggest impact on the world.

"I think that it is really important that government at all levels sees it as a responsibility to make this a level playing field," says Jarrett.

"We care about our country and we want to make sure that each young girl grows up on an even playing field able to compete and achieve her dreams."

How does gender equality affect your industry? Let us know in the comments.

I'm the digital producer for Women@Forbes. I am a proud CUNY Graduate School of Journalism and UNC-Chapel Hill alum. In these programs, I explored innovative digital ideas and podcasting. I love writing about women around the world, entrepreneurship, politics and religion. ...